PIP COURTNEY, PRESENTER: Here is a story about Australia's northwest and a political stoush centred on the engine room of the mining industry.

WA Nationals leader Brendon Grylls is staking his political future on switching from his safe seat in the wheat belt for a crack at Pilbara, currently held by Labor. In a moment Chris Clarke will speak to the man sometimes referred to in the west as "billion-dollar Brendon". But first, here's Claire Moodie with a profile on Pilbara and who he's up against.

CLAIRE MOODIE, REPORTER: Seven thousand k's and counting, Brendon Grylls has been putting in the hard yards over the summer break, campaigning across an electorate twice the size of Victoria.

BRENDON GRYLLS, WA NATIONALS LEADER: Where would you rather be than in the epicentre of economic growth in the world almost?

Energised. I love the fact that the Pilbara people are seeing a real contest.

CLAIRE MOODIE: It's here in Karratha that the Nationals leader's likely to pick up plenty of votes. This flash, high rise development has become a sill symbol of the Pilbara cities program. A plan to transform the dusty boom town into a vibrant metropolis. It's the new place to be seen in downtown Karratha. Small bar owner Bart Parsons knows who's he's voting for.

BART PARSONS, BAR OWNER: Yes, Brendon, of course. He's done a lot for us here. He's been very supportive.

CLAIRE MOODIE: On paper the Pilbara's a safe seat, mainly held by Labor since the early '80s, but Brendon Grylls has a ministerial profile and a billion dollar worth of projects founded by the Royalties for Regions program to claim credit for.

BRENDON GRYLLS: On the main street of Karratha now, public art appearing for the first time. We are putting in place the building blocks to grow to a city of 50,000 people. That's not hard, that's exciting and I want to keep playing a part in it.

CLAIRE MOODIE: Whoever wins, Larry Graham, who held the seat for 16 years, the last four as an independent, doesn't have much confidence in the major parties.

LARRY GRAHAM, FORMER INDEPENDENT MEMBER FOR PILBARA: You can look at four years of Labor and you can look at four years of the Liberal National Party and what you have to say is you'd be hard pressed to vote for either because both of them have been disasters for the Pilbara.

CLAIRE MOODIE: Everyone agrees that far more funding's needed to address the decades of neglect, but it's the Nationals suggestion that only they can be trusted to continue Royalties for Regions that's causing tension. Incumbent Labor MP Tom Stephens, whose retirement means the seat is now up for grabs, says Labor will not only continue it, but improve the program.

TOM STEPHENS, LABOR MEMBER FOR PILBARA: Royalties for Regions is there by statute, supported by the Labor Party, supported by the Liberal Party. It's there.

GEORGE LEVISSIANOS, LIBERAL CANDIDATE: Well, I believe it's rubbish that you need to vote for Nationals to keep Royalties for Regions.

BRENDON GRYLLS: Labor and Liberal say that. The history of the last 30 or 40 years would suggest that they've never done it before and the only reason they'd be promising it is because it's popular now.

CLAIRE MOODIE: It'll be up to voters to decide who to believe.

VOX POP: I mean, if Grylls doesn't get in, Royalties for Regions will still be in Parliament and still work for the public too, won't it? It won't go away. So that's just a game they've put up, I think. Is that right? You maybe think so, hey. I'm allowed to say that. You're not. (Laughs)

VOX POP II: I'm actually going to vote for Brendon. I really love what he's done here and he went out on a limb to get the Royalties for Regions happening.

CLAIRE MOODIE: Giving up his safe wheat belt seat for a tilt at the Pilbara has been described as a risky move, but it's one with some money behind it. The Nationals advertisements have been running on regional television for over a year. And it's understood internal polling has Mr Grylls in a winning position.

BRENDON GRYLLS: This seat is a 7.2 per cent seat to the Labor Party. They would expect it to be a safe seat, it wouldn't on their radar, but there's no safe seats anymore.

KELLY HOWLETT, LABOR CANDIDATE: It's going to be a big battle and it is a big battle. It's effectively like going against a sitting member when you are going up against a minister.

CLAIRE MOODIE: Whatever the result, at last the Pilbara, the powerhouse of the nation, is considered politically, not just economically, pivotal.

LARRY GRAHAM: It lifts the stakes on the good seat Pilbara. I would have him at the moment marginally in front and I think it'll stay that way. I don't think it's going to be as big a win as he thinks. But of course if he wins that seat, the Labor Party can't win government. It has finally become a key seat.

CHRIS CLARK, REPORTER: Brendon Grylls, welcome back to Landline. You've got a safe seat in the West Australian Parliament. Why take a political risk and try to win Pilbara from the Labor Party?

BRENDON GRYLLS, NATIONALS CANDIDATE, PILBARA: Well the West Australian Nationals have taken lots of political risks. It's led to our Royalties for Regions program which is investing more than $1 billion a year into regional development. It's a program that's the envy of regional politicians across Australia and to me that's worth trying to win a seat that we've never had before and keep the program going.

CHRIS CLARK: So how much of the Royalties for the Regions money has gone into the Pilbara?

BRENDON GRYLLS: Well the royalties generated in the Pilbara ARE generally from the iron ore industry, well over $4 billion a year. Our policy is 25 per cent of the royalties will be redirected back into regional development, so it's only fair that the Pilbara is the focus and more than $1.5 billion has been reinvested essentially going back to towns that were built in the '60s, have been neglected ever since and rebuilding the community and social infrastructure of those very important towns that are driving the national economy.

CHRIS CLARK: So is Royalties for Regions an attempt to buy parliamentary representation seat by seat?

BRENDON GRYLLS: Well, that's really what Perth politicians talk about when it comes to regional development. It seems OK to spend billions of dollars on public transport in the metropolitan area across all of the cities in Australia. As soon as politicians talk about reinvigorating and revitalising regional Australia, the attack comes on.

I fight that with every breath of my political ability to say that regional Australia and regional Western Australia needs investment, needs to grow, we drive the economy and you should invest where the economy's being driven from.

CHRIS CLARK: So what have you spent the money on in the Pilbara? What can you point to and say to people there's value?

BRENDON GRYLLS: An enormous amount of money on the infrastructure to improve housing. We had situations where rents were over $2,000 a week. It was unsustainable for the small business sector and people working outside the mining industry.

So we've built new power supplies, new water supplies, new sewerage, thousands of new blocks, we've attracted builders to bring apartment-style living into the Pilbara and then we've looked at the community infrastructure, the old community recreation facility that's 40 years old is being replaced by a state-of-the-art facility.

We've looked at the amenity and the liveability of these communities, because it's not sustainable to fly in, fly out to these communities forever and a day. It's intelligent and good business sense to have the workforce located where the job is and by building these communities, we hope to attract and retain families into those communities to do the work that's driving our economy.

CHRIS CLARK: The National Party's also contesting some other seats that you might or might not win. Are you going to be using the same sort of strategy?

BRENDON GRYLLS: Well, the idea of politics is you win more seats and that increases your influence in the Parliament and (inaudible) your policies able to be implemented. So I won't take any criticism for attempting as the leader of the Nationals to grow our party base, to improve our representation in the Parliament and I think what can be taken nationally from our push is that it is possible to drive regional development, it is possible to do that at the same time as investing in the capital city and it's important that we don't have everyone growing up, living and working in Perth.

Regional Western Australia and regional Australia is vital to our national economy and I think it's important that we invest and I hope that other political parties across Australia look to Western Australia to see that it is possible to drive regional development.

CHRIS CLARK: So if you can't win Pilbara as a seat, what does that say for Royalties for Regions as a political strategy?

BRENDON GRYLLS: When you take big risks, there's either big rewards or a big letdown. And so I face that every day and that doesn't concern me. Royalties for Regions has been an important policy to change the face of West Australian politics. Whether or not I win this marginal seat will be up to the voters of the Pilbara, but what I'm very sure of is that the neglect of regional Western Australia will never be so strong again because of the way the Nationals have changed the face of WA politics.

CHRIS CLARK: You'll never have a better chance though, will you?

BRENDON GRYLLS: Well, we'll just wait and see. There's always a new candidate around the corner, someone with a new idea and a new vision. I think that we've attracted a lot of support because we've broken the mould, we've done things a bit different. We haven't been in a coalition with the Liberal Party, we've been in an alliance, we bring our own policies to the table and we fight hard to implement them. I think that's been refreshing for country voters. The support that I get on the ground, not just in the Pilbara, but across regional Western Australia is quite extraordinary and we look forward to getting the chance to do that again in government for another four years.

CHRIS CLARK: To what extent is you contesting Pilbara and the National Party looking at other seats it hasn't held previously an act of political necessity, if you like? You need to win more seats, don't you, if you're going to have a voice that matters in a future government?

BRENDON GRYLLS: Our traditional heartland was in the Wheatbelt region. With one vote, one value changes last election the potential seats there were reduced to four. As a political party, if you're only aiming for four seats each election, you're getting closer and closer to irrelevance. We are now contesting 17 seats across regional Western Australia. We have a real chance in probably more than 10 of those seats. That gives us a chance to have strong representation in the Parliament, to put the voice of regional WA around the cabinet table and that's making a huge difference and we'll test that support on March 9.